I think they have a good shot at breaking into the Northwest - California market. I think it'd be great if they experimented with an LAX - EUG/MFR/RDM. People already love their SLC flights and most people fly Delta when heading out East. I think Miles and brand recognition is no longer a problem for them in the PNW.

Quote:I think they have a good shot at breaking into the Northwest - California market.

I would wish them luck on that, but considering that UA and AS have that market fairly well controlled (even WN doesn't really compete on that one!!), I think they'll find that their SLC connecting point works better than trying some of the point-to-point routes.

Quote:Delta is planning a significant increase at LAX, particularly to destinations in Latin America and Asia.

Quote:"We've decided to make L.A. our second Latin America gateway,"

"Again" he should have said - they had the LAX market when they took over Western, but gave it away. Maybe they can recapture what they had...

What Asian destinations might they be going after? And do they have the aircraft (777) to do it?

Quoting PanAm747 (Reply 4):"Again" he should have said - they had the LAX market when they took over Western, but gave it away. Maybe they can recapture what they had...

Ronald W. Allen piddled it away during his tenure, and Leo downsized it even more. UA , AS and AA were the winners here. I actually think LAX will resume being the DL gateway to the Hawaiian Islands, as direct service is moved to California from SLC in the coming months.

DELTA Air Lines; The Only Way To Fly from Salt Lake City; Let the Western Heritage always be with Delta!

Quoting GlobalATL (Reply 9):I'm just dreaming here but wouldn't life be so much better if hot meals in the main cabin were offered, again.

"Passengers will notice the difference inside the planes as well, said Joanne Smith, Delta senior vice president for in-flight services. "We are to create a better on-board experience," she said. The airline will equip all long-haul planes with in-seat TVs, bring back meal service and install lie-flat seats in first class."

And then from forbes a couple of days ago:http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0521/044.html?partner=yahoomag
"Grinstein is now adding back comforts, services and perks eliminated at other airlines. He's ripping out seats in its mainline jets and adding new leather ones with expanded legroom. Passengers get free HBO (movies, The Sopranos, etc.) on seat-back digital screens. They can also plug in headsets and browse 10,000 songs. Coach customers on flights of 1,750 miles or more get one complimentary alcoholic beverage and full meal service."

Quoting Evan767 (Reply 11):Passengers will notice the difference inside the planes as well, said Joanne Smith, Delta senior vice president for in-flight services. "We are to create a better on-board experience," she said. The airline will equip all long-haul planes with in-seat TVs, bring back meal service and install lie-flat seats in first class."

And then from forbes a couple of days ago:http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0521/044.html?partner=yahoomag
"Grinstein is now adding back comforts, services and perks eliminated at other airlines. He's ripping out seats in its mainline jets and adding new leather ones with expanded legroom. Passengers get free HBO (movies, The Sopranos, etc.) on seat-back digital screens. They can also plug in headsets and browse 10,000 songs. Coach customers on flights of 1,750 miles or more get one complimentary alcoholic beverage and full meal service."

Expanding at LAX is risky, but DL's Pacific routes are really weak. WN dominates short haul domestic and both AA and UA have large operations. I guess the opportunity is that nobody dominates. The other coastal cities are dominated by one airline or another, except maybe SAN, which has no room to grow and PDX, which is the smallest major city.

I would see DL attempting to use LAX as an international gateway. They need to build up the feed but LAX has relatively few non-stop Pacific routes on domestic carrier, considering the size of the demand. Of course the Pacific routes are dominated by highly rated Asian carriers so it would be tough to take market share from them.

Quoting Evan767 (Reply 11):Grinstein is now adding back comforts, services and perks eliminated at other airlines. He's ripping out seats in its mainline jets and adding new leather ones with expanded legroom. Passengers get free HBO (movies, The Sopranos, etc.) on seat-back digital screens. They can also plug in headsets and browse 10,000 songs. Coach customers on flights of 1,750 miles or more get one complimentary alcoholic beverage and full meal service.

Full meal service is great news, it's pathetic you can fly UAORD-HNL and not get a full meal. Hopefully other carriers will follow Delta's lead and bring it back too.

Quoting AADC10 (Reply 14):I guess the opportunity is that nobody dominates. The other coastal cities are dominated by one airline or another, except maybe SAN, which has no room to grow

I beg to differ on your statement 'DC10 about SAN. Just about 35% of all pax out of Lindbergh Field fly WN; the second biggest op there is currently UA with about 12% of the traffic out of SAN -- that's 1/3 of the number carried by WN!

On a per-market basis, the majority of routes served from SAN are monopolies as most service is to the various hubs. Just this year we have finally seen competition begin on several routes for the first time (or at least the first time in a very long time): ATL (FL joins DL), BOI (QX joins XE), BOS (B6 joins AA), GEG (QX joins XE), SLC (B6 joins DL) and last fall AS (temporarily) entered the SFO (UA) market (but there should be new competition for UA in that market again soon.)

Actually, Delta in SAN has seen more new competition than most (to ATL and SLC) so I would love to see them return the favor and perhaps pro-actively start stepping on some toes themselves, such as, AS's toes to PDX/SEA, maybe AA's and B6's to BOS, HA's tanned toes to HNL, almost any Florida route , a Mexico route or 2, etc., etc. Also, DL has access to about 5 gates at SAN (most of them now shared with others since DL ops are at a paltry 14 flights) so they could certainly add a few flights without a problem.

DL is positioning LAX as a global gateway - regional service on the west coast, mainline service across the US and to Hawaii, transpac service to Asia and the South Pacfic, a major gateway to Latin America (and not just RJs to Mexico), and a few choice routes to Europe.

It should be obvious that DL is thinking big and taking advantage of its financial strength and available aircraft and facilities to expand into key global markets around the world.

Anyone can file for BK but it takes real vision to take the advantage gained in BK and translate it into market leadership. AA is in the midst of a service meltdown and employee disdain that has ruined many airlines. UA has few aircraft to expand with and has high costs. DL would be a fool not to go after LAX.

DL will certainly get EZE from JFK and probably will add NRT in a year or two on top of LHR, leaving AA with no network advantages in JFK.

Lots of people thought I was blowing smoke all the time I said that DL would emerge and be a strong global competitor. Given that DL has

DL is positioning LAX as a global gateway - regional service on the west coast, mainline service across the US and to Hawaii, transpac service to Asia and the South Pacfic, a major gateway to Latin America (and not just RJs to Mexico), and a few choice routes to Europe.

It should be obvious that DL is thinking big and taking advantage of its financial strength and available aircraft and facilities to expand into key global markets around the world.

Anyone can file for BK but it takes real vision to take the advantage gained in BK and translate it into market leadership. AA is in the midst of a service meltdown and employee disdain that has ruined many airlines. UA has few aircraft to expand with and has high costs. DL would be a fool not to go after LAX.

DL will certainly get EZE from JFK and probably will add NRT in a year or two on top of LHR, leaving AA with no network advantages in JFK.

Lots of people thought I was blowing smoke all the time I said that DL would emerge and be a strong global competitor. Given what DL has accomplished at JFK, it isn't hard to think that they can do what they want in LAX.